Question : Problem: Requirements for Geforce 9800 video card going into Dell 8400

I have a BFG Geforce 9800 GTX 512MB GDDR3 graphics card that Im putting into a Dell 8400 for a friend.  Its a Pentium 4 CPU running at 3GHZ with 2GB of DDR2 ram running Windows XP home.

The card requires a 450W pci express compliant system power supply with a combined 12V current rating of 24A or more.  I have two power supplies Im thinking of using.  One is an Ultra Xfinity ULT-31844 500W power supply.  The other is a Rocketfish RF-700WPS 700W power supply.  

Its a double width card. Theres room for it in the case. Is there any reason I shouldnt be able to run this card on the 8400?  Would both of these power supplies work?  Is one preferable to the other?  

I have one final question.  My friend has an analog LCD monitor.  For gaming does a digital monitor give you much better graphics? Is this card wasted on  an analog monitor?

Thanks,
Al

Answer : Problem: Requirements for Geforce 9800 video card going into Dell 8400

The card will work fine => and will indeed give a superb boost to gaming performance ... while the 3.0GHz P-IV isn't all-that-fast by today's standards; it's certainly a reasonable CPU ... and games are VERY dependent on GPU capabilities.   The example of the gains seen by jordanrog was with a very good GPU already in the system ... in that case getting a faster CPU certainly helps ... but in this case you're going (I presume) from a basic GPU shipped with the 8400 to a MUCH faster GPU => there will indeed by a VERY nice gain in performance.

As for the power requirements ... either of the PSU's you're considering should work fine.   The 700w unit would clearly have more "headroom" (extra power) ... but 500w should be fine.   The 450w recommendation does indeed assume an E4500 CPU ... which draws 65w; but a 3.0GHz P-IV only draws 17-19w more than that (82-84w, depending on which specific stepping you have) ... so 500w should easily be enough.   The only other concern with a Dell is to be sure you don't have one of their units that require a proprietary PSU pinout ... but the 8400 does not => it uses a standard ATX pinout [You can confirm that here:  http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/dim8400/SM/techov.htm#wp1058366 ] ... so your standard ATX units will work fine.

The analog display will work fine ... the card is NOT "wasted" on this system !! :-)